You asked for Connecticut's crime rate broken down by the race of the offender and victim, and the racial breakdown of the offenders who have been convicted for a third strike in California?

SUMMARY

Offender Rate

Based on information contained in the Uniform Crime Reports from 2000 to 2004, and in the U.S. Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program (1/4/08), we were able to prepare estimates on the arrest rates for certain crimes broken down by race. This data indicates that the arrest rate for blacks for murder was 10 to 15 times as high as for whites, five to six times the rate for whites for sexual assault, eight to nine times as high for robbery, four to five times as high for aggravated assault, and between two to three times as high for burglary.

Incarceration Rates

We did not find any incarceration rates for Connecticut prepared by any Connecticut agency or organization. But we were able to find relevant information for 2005 prepared by an organization called the Sentencing Project, a Washington D.C. based national non-profit organization involved in research and advocacy on criminal justice policy issues, and for 2006 from the U.S. Department of Justice (U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin Prisoners in 2006 December 2007, NCJ 219416.)

Also according to the Sentencing Project's web site, in seven states (Iowa, Vermont, New Jersey, Connecticut, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and South Dakota) the black to white incarceration ratio is greater than 10 to one. The national rate is 5.6 to one and the ratios range from 13.6 to one for Iowa to just under two to one in Hawaii. Connecticut's rate is about 12 to 1. The Project concluded that Connecticut's black to white ratio is so high because Connecticut's rate of white incarceration is very low whereas its rate for black incarceration is a little above the national average.

According to Justice Department data, in 2006 black men were being incarcerated at a rate of 3,042 per 100,000. This data also indicated that

1. about one in every 33 black men was a sentenced prisoner and the rate for white men was about one in every 205, for Hispanic men about one in every 79; and

2. black men represented the largest proportion of sentenced male inmates at yearend 2006 (38%); white men made up 34%; and Hispanic men, 21%.

Victimization Rates

We were not able to find any Connecticut crime victimization rates. But a Bureau of Justice Statistics report based on a national survey of households concluded that in 2005 the national victimization rate for crimes committed against the person for whites age 12 and older was 20.9 per 100,000 people, while the victimization rate for blacks was 28.7 per 100,000.

Blacks were victims of an estimated 805,000 non-fatal violent crimes and of about 8,000 homicides in 2005. While blacks accounted for 13% of the U.S. population in 2005, they were victims in 15% of all non-fatal violent crimes and nearly half of all homicides. These findings are based on data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics' National Crime

According to Department of Justice's analysis of national crime statistics, blacks have generally had a serious violent crime victimization rate of about twice that of whites for the past two decades. During 2005, for example, the black victimization rate for serious violent crime was 13.6 compared to the rate for whites of 6.5. (Serious violent crimes include homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault.)

California

In 1994, California approved a major change in its criminal sentencing laws. This change has commonly been referred to as the “Three Strikes and You're Out” law. This law imposed longer prison sentences for certain repeat offenders, as well as instituted other changes. Under this law, if a person has one previous serious or violent felony conviction, the sentence for any new felony conviction (not just a serious or violent felony) is twice the term otherwise required by law. Offenders sentenced under this provision are often referred to as “second strikers.” If a person has two or more previous serious or violent felony convictions, the sentence for any new felony conviction (not just a serious or violent felony) is life imprisonment with the minimum term of 25 years. Offenders convicted under this provision are frequently referred to as “third strikers” ( A Primer: Three Strikes- The Impact After More Than a Decade, prepared by Brian Brown and Greg Jalivette of the California legislature's Legislative Analyst's Office). We have enclosed a copy of this report, which may be accessed on the web at http://www.threestrikes.org/3_strikes_102005.pdf

According to a 2004 report from the Justice Policy Institute, African Americans make up 6.5% of California's population, nearly 30 % of the prison population, 36 % of second strikers, and 45% of third strikers (Racial Divide An Examination of the Impact of California's Three Strike Law on African-Americans and Latinos, by Scott Ehlers, Vincent Schiraldi, and Eric Lotke).

ARREST DATA FROM CONNECTICUT

The following arrest data was taken from the annual reports of the Uniform Crime Reporting Program, State of Connecticut Department of Public Safety, Division of State Police, Crime Analysis Unit. The arrest rates were derived from applying this data to population data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program (January 4, 2008).

Number of Arrestees by Race 200 – 2004 in Connecticut

Table 1: Murder Arrestees by Race in Connecticut

2000 to 2004

Year

White

Black

Other

Asian

Indian

Unknown

Total

2004

35

45

0

1

0

35

117

2003

44

34

2

0

28

108

2002

33

37

1

0

26

97

2001

50

54

0

Not listed

Not listed

1

138

2000

52

38

0

-

-

24

114

Table 2: Robbery Arrestees by Race in Connecticut

2000-2004

Year

White

Black

Asian

Indian

Unknown

Total

2004

839

884

6

1

6

1,736

2003

782

790

7

1

5

1585

2002

920

761

0

4

2

1687

Other*

2001

801

754

5

-

-

1,560

2000

633

678

5-

-

-

1,316

*For 2001 and 2000 the statistics were reported as White, Black, and “Other Race”

Table 3: Rape Arrestees by Race in Connecticut

2000-2004

Year

White

Black

Asian

Indian

Unknown

Total

2004

203

100

2

0

1

306

2003

175

106

3

0

1

285

2002

217

118

0

0

0

335

Other*

2001

206

109

0

-

-

315

2000

170

129

7

-

-

306

*For 2001 and 2000 the statistics were reported as White, Black, and “Other Race”

Table 4: Aggravated Assault Arrestees by Race in Connecticut

2000-2004

Year

White

Black

Asian

Indian

Unknown

Total

2004

2,676

1,657

28

2

16

4,379

2003

2884

1,083

47

6

9

3,967

2002

2,892

1550

31

10

9

4492

Other*

2001

3,127

1,759

45

4,931

2000

3,191

1,661

43

-

-

4,895

*For 2001 and 2000 the statistics were reported as White, Black, and “Other Race”

Table 5: -Burglary Arrestees by Race in Connecticut

2000-2004

Year

White

Black

Asian

Indian

Unknown

Total

2004

2,263

665

15

0

28

2,971

2003

2,600

704

17

1

10

2,912

2002

2,462

688

30

1

8

3,189

Other*

2001

2,276

699

18

2,993

2000

2,170

685

15

-

-

2,870

*For 2001 and 2000 the statistics were reported as White, Black, and “Other Race”

Table 6: Larceny Arrestees by Race in Connecticut

2000-2004

Year

White

Black

Asian

Indian

Unknown

Total

2004

10,235

3,894

134

20

79

14,362

2003

10,221

4,100

141

33

68

14,563

2002

11,226

4,573

161

21

60

16,041

Other*

2001

11,057

4,828

184

-

-

16,069

2000

10,658

4,379

164

-

-

15,201

*For 2001 and 2000 the statistics were reported as White, Black, and “Other Race”

Table 7: Motor Vehicle Theft Arrestees by Race in Connecticut

2000-2004

Year

White

Black

Asian

Indian

Unknown

Total

2004

632

386

9

2

12

1,041

2003

745

495

9

3

7

1259

2002

915

570

4

1

5

1,495

Other*

2001

706

588

10

-

-

1,304

2000

711

580

5

-

-

1,296

*For 2001 and 2000 the statistics were reported as White, Black, and “Other Race”

Table 8: Arson Arrestees by Race in Connecticut

2000-2004

Year

White

Black

Asian

Indian

Unknown

Total

2004

133

30

2

0

0

165

2003

143

29

0

1

0

173

2002

159

32

1

0

1

193

Other*

2001

146

31

3

-

-

180

2000

178

34

0

-

-

212

*For 2001 and 2000 the statistics were reported as White, Black, and “Other Race”

Arrest Rates by Race in Connecticut 2000 - 2004

Table 9: Rape Arrest Rates per 100,000 People*

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

White

7

6

7

7

6

Black

30

31

34

31

37

Other

2

1

0

0

2

Rounded up to the nearest whole number

Table 10: Robbery Arrest Rates per 100,000 People*

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

White

29

27

31

27

21

Black

264

233

221

216

192

Other

9

9

4

3

3

Rounded up to the nearest whole number

Table 11: Aggravated AssaultArrest Rate per 100,000*

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

White

91

98

98

105

107

Black

496

319

450

503

472

Other

33

42

32

27

26

Rounded up to the nearest whole number

Table 12: Burglary Rate per 100,000*

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

White

74

77

83

88

76

Black

205

206

200

201

189

Other

11

12

25

17

25

Rounded up to the nearest whole number

INCARCERATION RATES

We took the following two incarceration rate tables for each state directly from the Sentencing Project's web site.

Table 13: Prison & Jail Incarceration Rates, 2005

Rate of Incarceration per 100,000 Population

State

White

Black

Hispanic

Alabama

542

1916

-

Alaska

500

2163

380

Arizona

590

3294

1075

Arkansas

478

1846

288

California

460

2992

782

Colorado

525

3491

1042

Connecticut

211

2532

1401

Delaware

396

2517

683

District of Columbia

56

1065

267

Florida

588

2615

382

Georgia

623

2068

576

Hawaii

453

851

185

Idaho

675

2869

1654

Illinois

223

2020

415

Indiana

463

2526

579

Iowa

309

4200

764

Kansas

443

3096

-

Kentucky

561

2793

757

Louisiana

523

2452

244

Maine

262

1992

-

Maryland

288

1579

-

Massachusetts

201

1635

1229

Michigan

412

2262

397

Minnesota

212

1937

-

Mississippi

503

1742

611

Missouri

487

2556

587

Montana

433

3569

846

NATIONAL

412

2290

742

Nebraska

290

2418

739

Nevada

627

2916

621

New Hampshire

289

2666

1063

New Jersey

190

2352

630

New York

174

1627

778

North Carolina

320

1727

-

North Dakota

267

2683

848

Ohio

344

2196

613

Oklahoma

740

3252

832

Oregon

502

2930

573

Pennsylvania

305

2792

1714

Rhode Island

191

1838

631

South Carolina

415

1856

476

South Dakota

470

4710

-

Tennessee

487

2006

561

Texas

667

3162

830

Utah

392

3588

838

Vermont

304

3797

-

Virginia

396

2331

487

Washington

393

2522

527

West Virginia

392

2188

211

Wisconsin

415

4416

-

Source: The Sentencing Project Uneven Justice: State Rates of Incarceration by Race and Ethnicity by Marc Mauer and Ryan S. King, July 2007

*Incarceration rates based on data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2005. New Mexico and Wyoming have been excluded due to lack of data on race and ethnicity.

Source: The Sentencing Project Uneven Justice: State Rates of Incarceration by Race and Ethnicity by Marc Mauer and Ryan S. King, July 2007

CRIME VICTIMIZATION RATES

Connecticut

The only published crime victimization rates we were able to find for Connecticut were contained in the the annual reports of the Uniform Crime Reporting Program, State of Connecticut Department of Public Safety Division of State Police, Crime Analysis Unit. The data from the following table was taken from these reports.

The “Serious violent crimes” included are homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Sources: Rape, robbery, and assault data were from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). Ongoing since 1972, this survey of households interviews about 134,000 persons age 12 and older in 77,200 households each year about their victimizations from crime. The homicide data was collected by the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) from reports from law enforcement agencies.

Table 16: Serious Crime Victimization Rates by Race, 1973-2005

Rate per 100,000 Age 12 and Over

Year

White

Black

1973

20

37.3

1974

20.9

37.3

1975

19.1

36.7

1976

18.8

38.2

1977

19.4

34.4

1978

18.8

33.2

1979

19.6

33.2

1980

18.7

34

1981

19.7

40.4

1982

19

36.9

1983

16.3

33.1

1984

15.6

28.9

1985

15.6

28.9

1986

15.6

25.2

1987

15

33.8

1988

16

31.4

1990

15.4

31.8

1991

16.2

31.3

1992

16.9

33

1993

17.8

34.3

1994

17.1

33.5

1995

13.5

26.4

1996

12.9

20.7

1997

11.6

19.2

1998

10.2

19.5

1999

8.7

16.2

2000

8.4

12.7

2001

8.4

12.7

2002

6.6

13

2003

6.5

12.8

2004

6.3

11.2

2005

6.5

13.6

Table 17: Personal Crimes, 2005: Number of Victimizations and Victimization Rates for Persons Age 12 and Over, by Type of Crime and Race of Victims

Rate of Victimization per 1,000 Persons Age 12 and Over

Type of crime

White only

Black only

Number

Rate

Number

Rate

All personal crimes

4,190,620

20.9

846,730

28.7

Crimes of violence

4,015,910

20.1

796,800

27

Completed violence

1,178,140

5.9

364,660

12.4

Attempted/threatened violence

2,837,780

14.2

432,150

14.7

Rape/Sexual assault

124,930

0.6

51,980

1.8

Rape/Attempted rape

83,170

0.4

32,2108*

1.1*

Rape

37,950

0.2

28,580*

1*

Attempted rape/c

45,220

0.2

3,630*

0.1*

Sexual assault/d

41,760

0.2

19,770*

0.7*

Robbery

447,030

2.2

136,310

4.6

Completed/property taken

253,280

1.3

127,800

4.3

With injury

106,250

0.5

28,690*

1*

Without injury

147,020

0.7

99,110

3.4

Attempted to take property

193,750

1

8,510*

0.3*

With injury

58,100

0.3

2,670*

0.1*

Without injury

135,650

0.7

5,840*

0.2*

Assault

3,443,950

17.2

608,510

20.6

Aggravated

757,950

3.8

225,480

7.6

With injury

219,920

1.1

85,100

2.9

Threatened with weapon

538,030

2.7

140,380

4.8

Simple

2,686,010

13.4

383,030

13

With minor injury

635,900

3.2

106,280

3.6

Without injury

2,050,110

10.2

276,760

9.4

Purse snatching/Pocket picking

174,700

0.9

49,930

1.7

Population age 12 and over

200,263,410

—

29,477,880

—

Note: Detail may not add to total shown because of rounding.

*Estimate is based on about 10 or fewer sample cases.

THREE STRIKES

According to a 2004 report from the Justice Policy Institute, African Americans make up 6.5% of California's population, nearly 30 % of the prison population, 36 % of second strikers, and 45% of third strikers (Racial Divide An Examination of the Impact of California's Three Strike Law on African-Americans and Latinos, by Scott Ehlers, Vincent Schiraldi, and Eric Lotke). The report also concludes that the black to white ratio for (1) felony arrests is 4.38 to one, (2) prison population is 7.46 to one, (3) for second strikers 9.92 to one, and (4) third strikers 12.7 to 1.

The following two tables were taken directly from this report:

Table 18: Felony Arrests, Prison Population, Second Strikers,

Third Strikers by Race in California

Race

Population

Felony Arrests

Prison Population

Second Strikers

Third Strikers

All Strikers

Black

6.50%

21.70%

29.70%

35.80%

44.70%

37.40%

2,222,816

92,312

46,250

12,700

3,334

16,034

Hispanic

32.60%

37.00%

35.90%

34.10%

25.60%

32.60%

11,082,985

157,756

55,853

12,081

1,907

13,988

White

47.10%

35.70%

28.70%

26.10%

25.40%

26.00%

16,047,989

152,099

44,756

9,245

1,896

11,141

Other

13.80%

5.60%

5.70%

4.00%

4.30%

4.10%

4,689,408

23,658

8,863

1,436

321

1,757

California

100.00%

100.00%

100.00%

100.00%

100.00%

100.00%

34,043,198

425,825

155,722

35,462

7,458

42,920

Table 19: Rates of Arrest, Incarceration, and Second- and Third-Strike

Sentences per 100,000 Residents, by Race/Ethnicity

Felony

Prison

Second

Third

All

Ethnicity

Arrests

Arrests

Population

Strikers

Strikers

Black

4152.9

2080.7

571.3

150

721.3

Hispanic

1423.4

504

109

17.2

126.2

White

947.8

278.9

57.6

11.8

69.4

Other

504.5

189

30.6

6.8

37.5

The following three graphs were also taken directly from this report.

Graph One shows the percentage that African-Americans account for with respect to (1) California's general population, (2) felony arrests, (3) prison population, and (4) second and third strikers under California's “three strikes law”.

Graph Two shows the arrest rate, incarceration rate, and second and third striker sentencing rate for African-Americans and Latinos compared to whites.

Graph three shows California's population, felony arrestees, prison population, and second and third strikers by race.

Graph One

Source: Racial Divide An Examination of the Impact of California's Three Strike Law on African-Americans and Latinos, by Scott Ehlers, Vincent Schiraldi, and Eric Lotke).

Graph Two

Source: Racial Divide An Examination of the Impact of California's Three Strike Law on African-Americans and Latinos, by Scott Ehlers, Vincent Schiraldi, and Eric Lotke).

Graph Three

Source: Racial Divide An Examination of the Impact of California's Three Strike Law on African-Americans and Latinos, by Scott Ehlers, Vincent Schiraldi, and Eric Lotke).